CpS70.T 
G73!h 


■■H 


HOW  NORTH  CAROLINA  WENT  INTO  THE  WAR. 

by 
Col.  H.C.Graham 
in 
Blue  &  Gray, Nov. 189 4. 


C&e  librarp 

of  tlje 

Omtietgitp  of  JSottf)  Carolina 


Collection  of  il2octS  Catoliniana 

(gntiotoeo  6p 

Kof)n  §>ptuttt  ^ill 

of  tbf  Class  of  1889 


TO    THE    AMERICAN    SOLDIER. 


281 


Philip's  eyes  rest  upon  Katherine  with  earnest 
"interest.  The  spray  of  honeysuckle  has  fallen 
unheeded  to  the  ground. 

"  I'm  so  sorry  you  did  not  see  her  !  Oh,  my  !" 
throwing  up  her  hands,  ' '  she  just  looked  like  an 
angal." 

"I  do  not  doubt  it,  Miss  Katherine,"  he 
softly  replies. 

"  And  her  eyes !  "  she  goes  on  rapturously, 
"  seemed  like  soft,  velvet  pansies.  But  her  face 
was  whiter  than  her  dress  !  " 

Kate  pauses,  for  Philip  has  turned  his  face 
away. 

"Don't  you  want  me  to  talk?"  she  asks,  a 
little  piqued  at  his  seeming  indifference. 

"Yes,  yes,"  he  answers,  eagerly;  "if  I  seem 
rude,  Miss  Katherine,  blame  my  head  for  it 
all." 

"  Oh,  does  your  head  ache?  Then  I'll  speak 
very  softly.  Mother  received  a  letter  to-day," 
she  whispers;  "Dr.  Merton  is  coming  home 
to-morrow.  It  is  sooner  than  we  expected 
them,  but  Leah  is  so  homesick  for  mother,  he 
writes.  He  had  hoped  to  keep  her  at  the  sea- 
side a  month  or  more." 

"Mother  misses  her  dreadfully,"  again  she 
■whispers,   "  she  hasn't  eaten  a  thing  all  day.  I 


often  think  mother  loves  ^eah  better  than  the 
rest  of  us  all  bunched  together.  Sometimes 
when  I  have  the  headache  and  Leah  sings,  it 
drives  all  the  pain  away.  Did  you  ever  hear 
her  sing  'At  the  Stile'?  No?  Well,  wait  a 
moment,  I'll  get  the  words." 

She  runs  through  the  open  window  and  soon 
returns  with  a  small  book. 

"Now  listen,"  she  begins  : 

"  We  had  met  and  we  had  parted 
In  the  stillness,  heavy  hearted, 
I  was  lingering  where  she  left  me, 
At  the  olden  rustic  stile." 

She  reads  it  sweetly,  and  he  tells  her  it  is 
very  pretty. 

"When  he  leaves  she  watches  his  tall,  lithe 
form  until  it  is  lost  to  view.  The  hone3rsuckle 
lies  forgotten  on  the  ground — trodden  upon  and 
withered.  She  raises  the  crushed  flower  with 
tender  fingers. 

"Heigh-ho,"  she  sighs,  "men  never  keep 
such  tokens." 

Ah,  Katherine,  you  would  not  think  thus 
could  you  see  within  a  small  ebony  box  a  clus- 
ter of  once  purple  violets,  whose  dry,  dead  odor 
is  almost  more  than  he  who  cherishes  them  can 
endure. 


[TO    BE    CONTIXrED] 


TO    THE    AMERICAN    SOLDIER. 

Geobge  H.  Blakeslee. 

T"\  ROUD  am  I  of  my  country's  flag  and  of  my  country's  name, 
-1-         And  next  to  her  I  cherish  most  her  soldiers'  deathless  fame  ; 
The  living  heroes  now  combined,  in  solid  phalanx  stand 
To  sweep  all  alien  foes  from  off  this  fair  and  favored  land. 

All  those  who  'neath  "Old  Glory"  fought,  admired  of  all  the  world, 
And  those  who  vainly  struggled,  ere  the  Southern  Cross  was  furled, 
Will  leave  behind  on  history's  page  a  bright  and  glowing  trail, 
And  never  be  forgotten  tiH  life's  beacon  lights  do  fail. 

All  honor  to  our  soldier  boys,  for  in  our  country's  name, 
When  pulseless  lies  my  heart  in  earth,  they  all  shall  live  in  fame. 
And  he  who  not  in  kindness  will  our  fellowship  extend, 
To  him  will  come  perchance  a  day  when  he  will  lack  a  friend. 
Lomax,  Nebraska, 


Tm/~(;  rLG^oKo   rtdo.Ct^ 


HOW  NORTH   CAROLINA  WENT  INTO  THE  WAR. 


Colonel  H.  C.  Graham. 


ONLY  those   who    lived  in    the    stirring 
days  of  '61  can  form  the  faintest  idea 
of  the    intense    excitement    that   pre- 
vailed   throughout   the    land    at  that 
period,  or  of  the  frenzy  of  military  spirit  that 
manifested  itself. 

North  Carolina  was  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  conservative  of  the  Southern  States  ;  in- 
deed, it  was  the  fashion  among  her  more  fiery 
sisters  south  of  her  to  characterize  the  State  as  a 
"  Rip  Van  Winkle,"  to  illustrate  its  slowness  of 
action.     It  would  have  been  more  appropriate 


the  heaviest  during  the  war,  promptly  re- 
sponded :  "I  always  found  more  dead  North 
Carolinians  on  the  Virginia  battle-fields  than 
from  any  other  State."  This  statement  from  the 
distinguished  general,  himself  a  Georgian,  who 
had  such  abundant  opportunity  for  observation, 
is  borne  out  by  the  official  records  of  the  United 
States  government,  published  in  its  great  his- 
tory of  the  struggle,  compiled  from  the  archives 
of  the  Federal  and  Confederate  War  Depart- 
ments, and  which  has  now  reached  its  eightieth, 
volume.     There  was  not  much  Rip  Van  Winkle- 


MARKET   SCENE    IN   A    CAROLINA    COUNTY   SEAT. 


to  have  likened  the  "Old  North  State"  to  a 
sleeping  lioness,  for  when  once  aroused  she,knew 
no  end  to  her  efforts,  manifested  by  the  endur- 
ance and  bravery  of  her  heroic  sons,  who  went 
to  the  front  until  the  State  had  sent  over  170,000 
soldiers  to  Lee's  army ;  and  there  was  not  a 
battle-field  in  Virginia  where  the  ' '  Tar  Heels  ' ' 
were  not  buried  by  the  hundreds  and  thousands. 
General  James  Longstreet,  next  to  Lee  and 
Jackson  the  most  prominent  general  in  the  Con- 
federate army  and  one  of  the  most  stubborn 
fighters  and  thorough  soldiers  ever  produced  by 
any  country,  when  recently  interviewed  by  a 
newspaper  correspondent  as  to  which  State  lost 


ism  about  this  business,  but  it  was  characteris- 
tic of  the  State — slow  to  move  until  convinced, 
but  a  fight  to  the  finish  when  she  entered  in 
earnest  into  the  combat. 

Secession  was  not  popular  in  North  Carolina. 
The  State  was  loath  to  pass  an  ordinance  of 
separation  ;  so  reluctant,  in  fact,  that  a  propo- 
sition, submitted  to  the  voters  of  the  State, 
whether  a  convention  should  be  called  to  con- 
sider the  question  of  secession  at  all,  was  voted 
down.     But  the  war  spirit  grew  apace. 

After  the  secession  of  South  Carolina,  which 
took  place  in  December,  1860,  the  military  spirit 
began  to  manifest  itself  in  earnest,  and  a  num- 


282 


HOW   NORTH    CAROLINA    WENT   INTO    THE  WAR. 


283 


ber  of  new  companies  were  organized  on  a  really 
military  basis. 

The  old  military  organizations  of  the  State 
might,  with  truth,  up  to  this  period  have  fairly 
been  entitled  to  the  sobriquet  of  "  holiday  sol- 
diers," for  their  principal  labors  had  consisted 
of  an  occasional  target-shoot,  picnic,  or  Fourth 
of  July  jubilee,  when  each  private  was  encum- 
bered with  a  gold-laced,  aiguleted,  and  epau- 
leted  uniform,  and  plumes  that  would  have 
done  credit  to  a  field  marshal  of  France  in  the 
days  of  the  Napoleonic  Empire,  and  where  pro- 
fuse perspiration  was  the  certain  torture  in- 
flicted on  the  warriors  that  wore  them.  At  these 
military  junketings  nearly  every  man  in  the 
company  was  accompanied  by  a  negro  servant, 
bearing  hampers  of  refreshments,  the  liquid  por- 
tion of  which  at  the  target-shoots  was,  perhaps, 
responsible  for  the  wretched  marksmanship, 
which,  with  the  old  smooth-bore  musket,  rarely 
came,  by  accident,  within  three  feet  of  the 
"bull's-eye."  Heigh-ho!  but  those  were  happy 
times.  Different  days,  however,  were  soon  to 
dawn  on  the  peaceful  "Old  North  State."  The 
black  clouds  of  war  were  rapidly  gathering  on 
the  political  horizon,  and  the  distant  mutterings 
of  the  thunder  gave  token  of  the  terrific  storm 
that  was  to  follow. 

I  bear  in  mind,  at  this  moment,  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Warren  County  Guards  as  they  came 
into  the  first  camp  of  instruction  at  Raleigh. 
This  county  (Warren) ,  by  the  way,  was  named 
after  the  grand  Revolutionary  hero,  of  Boston, 
who  laid  down  his  life  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  it 
was  one  of  the  most  aristocratic  counties  in  the 
State,  thoroughly  permeated  with  old  English 
ideas  and  customs. 

When  this  company  arrived  in  Raleigh  and 
came  into  the  camp  (which  was  commanded  by 
D.  H.  Hill,  brother-in-law  of  Stonewall  Jackson 
and  afterward  one  of  the  ablest  lieutenant-gen- 
erals in  the  Confederate  army) ,  it  came  with  a 
train  of  wagons  that  would  have  sufficed,  a  few 
years  later  on,  to  transport  the  baggage  of  Stone- 
wall Jackson's  corps,  and  the  quality  of  the 
baggage  was  remarkable.  There  were  banjoes, 
guitars,  violins,  huge  camp  chests,  bedsteads, 
and  other  material  startling  in  amount  and 
unique  as  to  quality,  while  the  soldiers,  a  num- 
ber of  them  large  landed  proprietors,  were  uni- 
formed in  a  style  of  magnificence,  as  to  gold 
lace,  plumes,  and  epaulets,  that  would  have  re- 
quired the  genius  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  to  describe 
with  proper  effect.  There  was  something  really 
pathetic   in   the    nonchalance    and   naivete    ex- 


hibited by  these  Warren  cavaliers,  who  could 
see  no  incongruity  between  camp  life  and  the 
luxuries  of  home. 

But  gallant  heroes  they  proved  themselves  to 
be,  for  they  formed  part  of  the  celebrated  First 
Regiment  of  North  Carolina  Volunteers,  com- 
manded by  D.  H.  Hill,  which  fought  and  won 
the  first  battle  of  the  Confederacy  at  Bethel, 
near  historic  Yorktown,  where  the  gallant  Major 
Winthrop,  of  Boston,  fell — probably  the  first 
Federal  officer  killed  in  the  war — and  where  the 
first  Confederate  killed  in  battle — Wyatt,  of 
Edgecombe  County,  North  Carolina — gave  up  his 
life,  and  in  honor. of  whose  memory  there  now 
hangs  a  life-size  portrait  in  the  library  of  the 
beautiful  Capitol  at  Raleigh. 

These  same  fine  Warren  County  soldiers  soon 
learned  the  sad  realities  of  war  and  nobly  per- 
formed their  duty.  The  handsome  gold-laced 
uniforms  were  soon  exchanged  for  the  regulation 
gray  blouse.  The  bodies  of  many  of  them  were 
placed  beneath  the  sod  on  Virginia  battle-fields, 
and  the  little  remnant  came  back  to  the  old 
homesteads  in  rags  from  Appomattox,  to  fight 
bravely  the  battle  of  life  under  the  new  regime, 

Governor  John  W.  Ellis,  of  Rowan  County, 
was  North  Carolina's  distinguished  war  execu- 
tive, one  of  the  ablest  men  who  ever  occupied 
the  gubernatorial  chair  and  who  was  confronted 
with  the  gravest  issues  that  had  ever  presented 
themselves  'for  the  consideration  of  a  chief 
magistrate  of  the  State.  He  was  a  States  Rights 
•Democrat  of  the  old  school,  was  exceedingly 
popular  with  his  party,  and  was  serving  his 
second  term  when  the  Civil  War  commenced. 

While  Governor  Ellis  was  naturally  in  deep 
sympathy  with  his  Democratic  confreres  in  the 
far  Southern  States,  yet  neither  by  word  nor  deed 
did  he  compromise  North  Carolina  beyond  the 
law  and  the  expressed  will  of  the  people  on  the 
secession  question.  On  one  occasion,  when  a 
number  of  over-zealous  soldiers  took  possession 
of  Fort  Johnson,  at  Wilmington,  he  immediately 
ordered  them  to  evacuate  the  fort  and  turn  it 
back  to  the  United  States  government,  and  this, 
too,  at  a  time  when  the  war  spirit  had  com- 
menced to  boil  over. 

It  was  not  until  President  Lincoln's  procla- 
mation, calling  for  75,000  troops  and  on  North 
Carolina  for  her  quota,  that  the  people  of  the 
State  became  a  unit  and  her  secession  a  cer- 
tainty. Governor  Ellis  declined  to  furnish  the 
quota.  Relations  with  Washington  were  imme- 
diately broken  up.  Never  was  there  such  a 
transformation    of  political   sentiment  wrought 


o   33~7^  3 


284 


BLUE    AND     GRAY. 


in  so  short  a  time.  Raleigh,  the  capital  of 
the  State,  where  strong  Union  sentiment  pre- 
vailed and  where  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were 
conspicuously  displayed  before  the  proclamation, 
was  instantly  metamorphosed. 

The  writer  of  this  article  was,  at  the  time  of 
the  intense  excitement,  a  student  in  the  senior 
class  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina  at 
Chapel  Hill.  •  There  were  over  600  students 
at  "The  Hill,"  from  all  parts  of  the  South, 
and  a  military  company  had  been  formed 
there,  known  as  the  "University  Blues,"  who 
promptly  offered  their  services  to  the  Governor, 
but  they  were  declined  because,  as  ex-qfficio 
head  of  the  University,  he  deemed  it  unwise  to 
take  any  action  that  would  disorganize  this 
time-honored  institution  of  learning.  But  the 
inevitable  was  near  at  hand. 

Ex-Governor  David  B.  Swain  was  at  this  time 
the  president  of  the  University — "Bunc,"as 
he  had  been  affectionately  known  by  the  stu- 
dents for  years,  so  styled  because  he  was  from 
the  celebrated  Buncombe  County,  of  North 
Carolina,  which  was  also  the  home  of  the  late 
lamented  Senator  Zebulon  B.  Vance.  He  had 
been  twice  Governor  of  the  State,  was  the  inti- 
mate friend  of  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
historic  characters  of  the  country^and  the  Uni- 
versity made  wonderful  progress  under  his 
administration.  He  was  a  man  filled  with  the 
milk  of  human  kindness,  dearly  loved  by  the 
young  men  under  his  guidance,  and  every  one 
of  whom,  surviving  to-day,  reveres  his  memory.. 
The  old  man  dearly  loved  his  country,  mourned 
deeply  over  the  disruption  that  took  place,  with 
tears  in  his  eyes  witnessed  the  departure  of  the 
ninety-five  members  of  the  senior  class  before 
the  commencement,  and  sent  them  their  diplo- 
mas in  camp. 

The  writer  was  a  member  of  an  artillery  com- 
pany in  Raleigh,  in  which  he  had  been  enrolled 
a  short  time  before  President  Lincoln's  procla- 
mation. Immediately  after  the  proclamation  a 
military  camp  of  instruction  was  ordered  at 
Raleigh,  and  a  State  Convention  assembled. 
The  writer  received  an  order  from  his  com- 
manding officer  to  report  at  the  camp,  and  re- 
sponded thereto. 

What  a  wonderful  change  had  come  over  the 
"Old  North  State"!  Arriving  at  Durham, 
twelve  miles  from  the  University,  then  a  mere 
station  on  the  Central  North  Carolina  Railroad, 
but  now  a  thriving  city,  the  writer  awaited  the 
arrival  of  the  train.  When  it  came  in  sight  it 
was  decorated  with  the  then  Confederate  colors, 


MAJOR  WINTHEOP,   U.  S.  A.  (KILLED  AT  BETHEL). 

the  three  bars  and  stars,  from  the  engine  to  the 
rearmost  car,  and  had  three  military  companies 
on  board.  The  first  sight  that  greeted  us,  as  we 
came  in  sight  of  Raleigh,  was  the  Confederate 
flag  flying  from  the  dome  of  the  Capitol.  Many 
of  the  citizens  wore  the  red  cockade,  the  old 
Revolutionary  symbol  of  the  State,  and  the  city 
was  alive  and  active  with  military  preparation. 
The  Convention  soon  assembled,  composed  of 
the  best  material  of  the  State,  with  Hon.  Weldon 
N.  Edwards,  of  Warren  County,  as  its  president. 
This  body  at  the  Capitol,  with  the  military  camp 
established  at  the  Fair  Grounds  of  the  North 
Carolina  Agricultural  Association,  were  the  two 
great  points  of  attraction,  while  the  city  was 
crowded  with  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the 
South.  The  camp  bore  off  the  palm  for  its 
large  and  constant  flow  of  visitors.  There 
were  nearly  2,000  infantry  in  the  camp,  with 
Ramseur's  superb  artillery  company.  This 
company,  when  completed,  numbered  over 
120  stalwart  men.  It  had  been  raised  in 
Raleigh,  and  many  of  its  members  were 
prominent  society  young  men.  To  it  was 
given  the  only  complete  battery  in  the  State, 
which  had  been  captured  with  the  Fayetteville 
arsenal.  It  was  entirely  new,  consisting  of  six 
brass  field-pieces,  four  six-pounders,  and  two 
howitzers,  and  when  fully  equipped  had  six 
matched  horses  to  each  gun,  caisson,  the  battery 
wagon  and  forge,  and  it  was  one  of  the  finest 
batteries  in  Lee's  army.  Its  commander,  Cap- 
tain David  Ramseur,  had  just  resigned  his  com- 
mission as  a  first  lieutenant  of  artillery  in  the 
United    States    army.     His    ancestors  were  of 


HOW  NORTH   CAROLINA    WENT   INTO    THE    WAR. 


285 


Revolutionary  fame  in  Western  Carolina.  He 
afterward  became  a  distinguished  major-general 
in  Lee's  army,  and  was  killed  in  the  valley  of 
Virginia. 

The  battery  was  afterward  known  as  "  Man- 
ley's,"  being  commanded  by  Captain  Basil 
Manley,  afterward  major,  a  son  of  an  ex -gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  and,  after  the  surrender, 
mayor  of  Raleigh.  One  of  the  sad  duties  of  the 
battery,  before  it  left  for  Virginia,  was  to  take 
part  in  the  funeral  pageant  of  Governor  Ellis, 
in  Raleigh.  The  Governor,  broken  down  by  his 
arduous  duties,  went  to  the  Red  Sulphur  Springs, 
in  Virginia,  to  recuperate  his  health,  and  there 
died.  His  remains  were  brought  to  Raleigh  and 
interred  with  imposing  military  honors.  There 
were  also  two  regiments  of  infantry  in  the  pro- 
cession (on  their  way  to  Virginia) ,  one  of  them, 
the  6th,  commanded  by  Colonel  Charles  Fisher, 
who,  a  few  weeks  afterward,  lost  his  life  at  the 
battle  of  Manassas. 

Governor  Ellis  was  succeeded  by  Governor 
Clarke,  of  Edgecombe  County,  who  took  the 
gubernatorial  chair  by  virtue  of  his  office  && 
president  of  the  State  Senate. 

The  camp  of  instruction  presented  special 
attractions.  The  Raleigh  ladies,  always  noted 
for  their  beauty  and  accomplishments,  were 
strongly  reinforced  by  numbers  of  fair  visitors 
from  other  portions  of  the  State  and  from  the 
South,  and  every  afternoon,  at  dress  parade,  a 
long  line  of  carriages,  filled  with  fair  occupants, 
were  in  attendance  to  witness  the  ceremonial. 
A  fine  band  of  musicians  was  in  the  camp,  which 
added  greatly  to  its  attractiveness. 

Finally  the  day  came  when  the  ordinance  of 
secession  was  to  be  passed.  The  whole  city  was 
early  astir.  A  great  crowd  gathered  in  the 
Capitol  grounds.  Ramseur's  battery  was  ordered 
down  from  the  camp,  to  fire  a  salute  of  100  guns 
in  honor  of  the  event,  and  a  fine  military  band 
was  stationed  in  front  of  the  Capitol  to  add  in- 
spiration and  eclat  to  the  occasion. 

The  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
where  the  Convention  was  held,  was  crowded  to 
overflowing,  and  as  each  member  affixed  his 
name  to  the  ordinance,  he  was  loudly  applauded. 
Outside,  on  the  Capitol  grounds,  the  crowd  was 
so  great  it  overflowed  in  every  direction,  and 
sentries  marched  beside  the  artillery  to  maintain 
sufficient  space  for  working  the  guns. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  a  handkerchief 
should  be  waved  from  a  window  of  the  conven- 
tion hall  when  the  last  signature  was  placed  to 
the  ordinance  of  secession,  as  a  signal  to  the 


artillery.  Captain  Ramseur  and  his  officers  and 
men  stood  by,  their  guns  ready,  and  when  the 
bit  of  embroidered  cambric,  in  the  hands  of  a 
fair  daughter  of  the  State,  waved  the  signal, 
the  guns  thundered  their  salute  as  rapidly  as 
they  could  be  loaded  and  fired  by  the  well-drilled 
artillerymen.  And  let  me  tell  you  they  were 
good  ones.  If  you  have  never  listened  to  the 
music  of  a  full  batteiy,  well  served,  you  can 
form  but  little  idea  of  the  racket  it  makes.  At 
the  moment  the  salute  commenced,  every  bell 
in  the  city  rang  out,  and  the  band  struck  up 
North  Carolina's  inspiring  anthem,  "  The  Old 
North  State  ' '  : 

Carolina,  Carolina, 

Heaven's  blessings  attend  her  ; 
While  we  live  we  will  cherish, 

Protect,  and  defend  her. 
Hurrah  !     Hurrah  ! 

For  the  Old  North  State  forever. 
Hurrah  !     Hurrah  ! 

For  the  good  Old  North  State. 

This  martial  hymn  was  composed  by  the  great 
Gaston,  one  of  North  Carolina's  most  dis- 
tinguished and  beloved  sons,  and  the  music  is 
most  inspiring.  It  was,  and  is  to-day,  the  Mar- 
seillaise of  the  State,  and  has  a  power  to  arouse 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  enthusiasm  the  heart  of 
every  true  son  of  the"  Old  North  State,"  when- 
ever and  wherever  he  hears  its  inspiring  strains. 
It  is  related  that  on  one  occasion  in  Virginia,  at 
night,  after  a  bloody  conflict,  when  the  armies 
were  resting  on  their  arms,  preparatory  to  re- 
newing the  battle  next  morning,  a  band  of  one 
of  the  North  Carolina  regiments  struck  up  this 
anthem  of  the  State.  There  were  a  large  number 
of  North  Carolina  regiments  that  had  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  bivouacking  along  the  line, 
and  as  far  as  the  strains  of  music  could  reach 
them  cheers  went  up  that  made  the  welkin  ring. 

When  that  memorable  event  in  the  history  of 
North  Carolina  which  I  have  attempted  to  de- 
scribe took  place,  amidst  the  thunder  of  the  can- 
non, the  ringing  of  bells,  and  the  inspiring 
music,  the  assembled  multitude  went  wild.  Old 
men  rushed  into  each  other's  arms  ;  young  men, 
soldiers,  and  civilians  yelled  themselves  hoarse, 
and  all  sorts  of  extravagances  were  indulged  in. 

And  so  the  momentous  deed  was  accomplished. 
Then  came  the  serious  duties  and  sad  realities 
of  the  great  conflict.  The  First  Regiment  of 
volunteers  left  us  for  Virginia,  with  band  play- 
ing, colors  flying,  and  handkerchiefs  from  fair 
hands  waving  adieu.  The  regiment  left  in  the 
early  morning,  about  seven  o'clock,  and  notwith- 
standing the  early  hour,  all  Raleigh  was  on  the 


286 


"BLUE    tAND     GRAY. 


qui  vive  to  give  a  grand  send-off  to  the  first  sol- 
diers to  leave  the  State  for  the  seat  of  war  in 
Virginia.  At  the  head  of  the  regiment  rode  D. 
H.  Hill,  as  its  colonel.  Charles  C.  Lee  was  the 
lieutenant-colonel,  afterward  colonel  of  the  37th 
North  Carolina  Infantry.  He  was  killed  the  day 
before  the  battle  of  Malvern  Hill,  in  the  seven 
days'  battles  of  Richmond.  James  H.  Lane  was 
major  of  the  regiment.  Major  Lane  was  after- 
ward colonel  of  the  28th  North  Carolina  Infantry, 
and  after  that  one  of  the  most  gallant  and  dis- 
tinguished brigadier-generals  in  Lee's  army. 
He  is  now  professor  of  civil  engineering  at  the 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  at  Auburn, 
Alabama. 

When  the  first  volunteers  marched  down 
Fayetteville  Street,  the  principal  avenue  of  Ral- 
eigh, on  their  way  to  the  cars,  to  the  lively 
strains  of  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me"  and 
"  Dixie,"  amid  the  waving  of  handkerchiefs  by 
the  ladies  and  the  cheers  of  the  men  who  lined 
the  sidewalks,  the  scene  can  be  more  readily 
imagined  than  described,  if  I  may  use  the  trite 
saying  in  recording  what  was  indeed  a  most  in- 
spiring sight. 

But  it  was  not  long  before  the  glamour  and 
novelty  of  first  military  experiences  passed  away, 
and  the  stern  realities  of  the  great  tragedy  faced 
the  Confederacy.  North  Carolina's  legions  were 
poured  rapidly  into  Virginia.  Several  camps  of 
instruction  were  established,  and  from  these 
went  forth  regiment  after  regiment,  well  drilled 
and  equipped.  Excellent  service  was  rendered 
in  these  camps  by  West  Point  cadets,  who  had 
resigned  and  come  home,  and  by  the  cadets  of  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  which  was  looked 
upon  as  the  leading  Southern  military  academy. 
These  young  officers  drilled  the  raw  recruits, 
and  did  their  work  well.  Many  of  them  reached 
high  rank  in  the  army  afterward.  It  was  found 
that  their  services  could  be  dispensed  with  as 
mere  drill  masters,  for  "Hardee's  Tactics"  soon 
became  as  familiar  as  Webster's  spelling  book 
in  every  branch  of  the  service. 

Nearly  all  of  North  Carolina's  troops  were 
sent  to  Virginia,  and  formed  part  of  Lee's 
Army.     From  Bethel  to  Appomattox  they  par- 


ticipated in  every  important  battle,  and  their 
losses  were  enormous.  Take,  for  instance,  those 
of  Branch ',s  brigade  of  A.  P.  Hill's  "  The  Light 
Division,"  in  the  seven  days'  battles  around 
Richmond,  as  shown  by  the  official  records. 
This  brigade  was  commanded  by  General  S.  O.  B. 
Branch,  who  was  afterward  killed  at  Sharpsburg 
(Antietam) ,  and  it  was  composed  of  North  Caro- 
lina regiments,  with  Captain  Marmaduke  John- 
son's Virginia  battery  attached,  for  at  this  time 
the  artillery  had  not  been  placed  in  a  separate 
corps,  but  each  brigade  carried  its  own  battery. 

The  7th  Regiment,  in  which  the  writer  was 
serving  as  a  lieutenant  (and  he  may  as  well  state 
here,  was  wounded  at  Gaines'  Mill,  where  the 
two  other  officers  of  his  company  were  killed, 
and  which  regiment  was  commanded  by  Colonel 
Haywood,  after  the  fall  of  Colonel  Campbell, 
who  was  also  killed  at  Gaines'  Mill) ,  in  its 
official  returns,  shows  that  out  of  450  officers 
and  men  carried  into  action,  253  were  killed  and 
wounded.  (See  Government  Records,  Vol.  XL, 
page  890.) 

These  same  records  show  that  Colonel  Cowan's 
regiment,  the  18th,  lost  sixty-eight  killed  and 
wounded;  the  28th,  Colonel  Lane's,  ninety-one; 
the  33d,  Colonel  Hoke's,  seventy-five ;  Colonel 
Barbour's,  the  37th,  who  took  command  after 
Colonel  Lee  was  killed,  138.  Captain  Johnson's 
battery  lost  twenty  killed  and  wounded  and  ten 
horses. 

At  Gettj'sburg  the  losses  were  frightful  to  the 
North  Carolina  troops,  and  so  on  every  battle- 
field they  laid  down  their  lives  by  the  score. 

But  the  end  came  at  last,  and  the  battered 
fragment  came  back  to  the  old  home  in  their 
ragged  jackets  and  with  ruined  fortunes,  ready 
to  commence  bravely  anew  the  battles  of  civil 
life.  And  what  a  splendid  record  they  have 
made  !  Look  at  the  "  Old  North  State  "  to-day, 
with  its  constantly  increasing  population  and 
growth  in  manufacturing,  mining,  and  agricul- 
tural development,  largely  brought  about  by  its 
old  Confederate  soldiers,  and  say  if  these  brave 
followers  of  Lee  and  Jackson  are  not  worthy  of 
their  Anglo-Saxon  lineage  and  of  the  name  of 
Americans. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032721458 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


TYSON'S 
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l9CiesarMis<bB!dg 

SI  EMPIRE  ST. 
PROVIDENCE,  R.  L 


